I have a new neighbour who I believe is a trained mechanic. He is employed as a workshop mechanic and part time towie using a 5 tonne sliding deck recovery truck. What my question is, is it normal practice to start a vehicle engine and leave it idling for upto 5 minutes before driving away ? Now this guy and his family live in the house directly behind mine and shares the driveway. When he first moved in he rode a Honda 1400 GSC motor bike which I can understand needed to warm the engine before riding off but that,gladly, has been sold as it was so loud even at idle with it's 4 into 1 racing exhaust and fancy muffler. But is it normal practice to need to run these late model Jappa diesel 4 cylinder or Mitzy 4 cylinder petrol engines for 5 minutes or more every time one starts it from cold. I would understand if we lived where the temps were down to 0 degrees but we live in a warmer area of NZ. Heck I getting to the stage of looking forward to haing the Roadster going again so I can start that up and leave it idling for a long time and see if he likes the noise.
Now some of you make think I am just a moaner but the fumes fill our bathroom and my bedroom so now keep the windows closed .
The workshop/owners manual that came with my BMW says that no warm up is necessary but to just gently drive the car until the engine warms. All the late model trucks have never liked idling for long periods of time and again it is recommended to drive gently until warm. So is this young fella been taught the wrong thing about engine warm up etc. ?
I will be interested to read what you guys think of this... Thanks.